The CPI released this morning showed that August prices increased 0.4 percent and 2.9 percent over the last 12 months. For food at home, the index rose to 0.6 percent in August and for 0.3 percent for food away from home. The August data compares to a drop of -0.1 percent in July and 2.7 percent for food at home, and a 3.9 percent rise for food away from home over the past 12 months. The food at home inflation number came to its highest of the year after a volatile record over the past eight months, while overall inflation continued to slowly increase since March, and food away from home prices remain steadily elevated. The inflation numbers are up as tariffs have begun to have some impact on the costs of imported goods. Many busines...
Macro: Treasury Squeezes Yields, the Dollar Gives Way Today’s markets are offering a lesson in pressure: it rarely disappears — it simply moves. The U.S. Treasury stepped into the bond market after long-term yields surged to levels not seen in nearly two decades. By announcing plans...
Key Takeaways: With cattle supplies historically tight and packer margins deeply negative, beef processors are reducing excess slaughter capacity, with decisions over which plants to close driven by cattle availability, operating efficiency, and the ability to maintain high utilization rates...
From WPI Consulting
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.